ALL IS INTERCONNECTED With Guest, MARIA JOSE PEREIRA
Smitten By Faith Issue # 0014 6th November 2021 Reflections on Climate Change - November Series
During this month of November, the world has much to be hopeful about. Predominant is COP 26, the UN’s annual conference on climate change held this year from October 31st to November 12th in Glasgow, Scotland. So, is the whole world sufficiently energised now not just to speak with a united stance about the dire straits of global climate change but also do something about this ? As the young activist Greta Thunberg said, “No more blah blah blah”.
We asked 4 very thoughtful and different guests to reflect on climate change in the upcoming November issues of ‘Smitten By Faith’ in this month’s series : REFLECTIONS ON CLIMATE CHANGE. My guests will write from their various perspectives - maintaining this very important conversation and the momentum of Cop26. I invited former banker Maria Jose Pereira from Portugal, a poet Noriko Barrow from Japan and the UK, a newly minted young teacher and artist, Rachel Y.Y Ng from Malaysia teaching in the UK, and a Millennial biologist and illustrator Lim Hui-Lin also from Malaysia whose drawings of animals and nature capture their guileless essence.
The subject of climate change can be viewed from so many angles; its not just about calamity - geo hazards, ecosystems, life threatening events - which is real and imminent. There are also the more positive angles : appreciating our green verdant planet, our animal kingdom; what actions the world can take now ; and how together, as a caring community, we can all build a sustainable future.
Very appropriately, we begin the November Climate Change reflections with ‘ALL IS INTERCONNECTED’ by my good friend and former banker, MARIA JOSE PEREIRA in Cascais, Portugal, an article which is written very much from her heart with her inspiring Christian outlook, holistic and multi-dimensional view of the world. In her very apt title, Maria brings us back to basics and reminds us of our humanity. Thank you Maria for your much needed compass !
I first met Maria in New York in the late 80’s, a friendship that continued in Hong Kong where she was sent to open and head the offices of a major New York private bank and investment firm. A perfect decision, as Maria, equipped with an MBA in Finance and experience in global financial affairs, was born in Macau and speaks many languages, including Cantonese. She adapted easily to Hong Kong and flourished there.
However, a chance encounter took her on a different path. She felt, when she met Ernesto Melo Antunes, that she was before someone of great depth, so it was an easy decision to leave her professional life behind to marry him. An important figure in the Portuguese Carnation Revolution of 1974, he was not your typical politician, but more of a philosopher, guided by ideals.
After his death, the conversation she had initiated with him continued through her reflection on the world and what it means to be human. Thus began her deep reflection on how to integrate more than solely numbers into the investment process, by bringing in other considerations. This led her to pursue an MSc in Environmental Science from Imperial College. She believes a humanistic framework, with full consideration for the other and for nature, is vital for our economic and social organization. This requires love and virtue, in conjunction with money, so as to create a civil society that leads to the common good, discussed in her book, A Banker Reflects on Money, Love and Virtue
Triarchy Press, 2015. You can visit the link : A Banker Reflects on Money, Love and Virtue - Triarchy Press
Maria has given lectures and presentations at different universities and associations around the world. She has also promoted clean energy investment. So, over now to MARIA JOSE PEREIRA for her thoughtful article on how we are stewards of the Earth as Maria reflects deeply and profoundly on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si - On Caring for Our Common Home.
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ALL IS INTERCONNECTED
By MARIA JOSE PEREIRA
Cascais, Portugal 6th November, 2021
We are part of Earth: “our very bodies are made up of her elements.” Pope Francis writes in his encyclical, Laudato Sí (2015). I am reminded of this, as Cop 26 (October 31 –November 12) meets in Glasgow. Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis shows us the bond between nature, society, justice and inner peace. Everything is interconnected. Integral ecology transcends science and economic and political management to the heart of what it means to be human.
Laudato Sí is not a “how-to-solve” manual regarding our environmental and human crisis. It is not just prescriptive, with material solutions, although it guides us. It invites us to dig deep down into the ground of our being and brings us to the core of what matters most – love and connection within nature and with each other. Where do we feel the greatest peace? Within a home where there is love.
Ecology stems from the Greek and denotes “law of the home”. Economics means “management of the home”. Nature provides for our home and nourishes our physical being; it also gives us a glimpse of the transcendent through its beauty and majesty. Economics is the system by which we manage our natural resources and man-made objects to satisfy our needs. God put Adam in the Garden of Eden and told him to “till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). The earth gives us fruit, but we have to keep it and nourish it with our care.
Our transgression of nature is exposed by the climate crisis. As Pope Francis writes, “we plunder her at will.” Our cultural mindset of individualism, consumerism, competition, profit maximization and unlimited economic progress has caused us not to manage our home well and have brought upon us a great risk of successive natural disasters. After having first alerted us in the 1970s of the risks of carbon emissions to global warming, scientists now call for urgent action as we face an emergency. Successive attempts to stem warming have failed. In recent years, we have seen climatic disasters accelerate. The siren is on. We must face the challenge fully and honestly and no longer hide behind delusions or excuses.
But the crisis before us goes beyond climate change to problems with water and waste, and the loss of biodiversity. Scientists warn that a Sixth Extinction is underway. In fact, the coronavirus epidemic has been linked to a human abuse of natural life, thus upsetting the harmonious balance of nature. The World Health Organization warns that climate change is the greatest health threat to humanity. Destruction of the environment can be linked to ethical degradation, an insufficient regard for the consequences of our action. Hence, our environmental crisis becomes a human crisis.
When nature is viewed solely as a source of personal gratification and gain, there are serious consequences for humanity. If we harm nature, we end up harming ourselves. Nature is a collective good, the patrimony of all, and the responsibility of all. We cannot look only to political leaders to solve the climatic challenge. Politicians reflect the society they serve. They work within a system created by successive policies and visions for society. If they disappoint, should we not assume some blame for not living up to what we pretend? We have to be honest with ourselves. Are we individually living up to our expectations? If we wish for a resolution to the ecological challenge, do we not each have a part to play? Are we acting in accord with a world that we wish for? Or do we delude ourselves?
We all play a part. We have contributed to the problem; now we must participate in its solution. And we need to see the role of all within a holistic framework. Everything is interrelated. How can we solve the climate challenge within the framework of a better society? Can this be realized without some sobriety, maybe even sacrifice? We shun the word for we live in a society designed for the gratification of individual desires, for self-love. But ask anyone who has truly loved what love is and the answer will be: love is to get outside of oneself to love the other.
Before we look deeper, let us review some specific steps that are necessary, such as conservation and decarbonization through energy efficiency, the transition to clean energy, and other forms of sustainable investment. Many call for putting a price to carbon, with the introduction of carbon taxes, carbon offsets, and/or carbon trading. If a price is placed on carbon, measures must be introduced so that the poorest will not be unduly penalized. They use little energy, but are the most exposed to climate disasters, including the disappearance of settlements and even island homes due to rising water levels. And if carbon trading is introduced, we must guard that this does not become yet another speculative instrument, with new frenzy around it and contributing to instability in pricing. However, the purpose of my article is not to write about instrumental steps to solve the climate challenge. Much is written about this, and it is covered extensively by the press during COP26.
I wish to highlight that the answer is not simply in a series of responses to problems in a fragmented way. It cannot be solely via engineering and technological responses, as helpful as that might be and needed in many cases. Even though financial subsidies and assistance are required to accelerate the decarbonization process or help the poor, this is not enough. Nor can it be solved purely via market mechanisms. We have to go beyond our market framework to look at how we create a society where humans live in harmony with each other and with nature, and be fully aware of what this means. Only then can we truly solve the challenge before us.
Two terms, borrowed from Adam Smith, used to justify our economic management are self-interest and the invisible hand. In current parlance, it implies trickle-down economics. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was a new economic synthesis, introduced when the world clamored for liberty and equality and a chance to participate in prosperity, as markets developed and supplanted the wealth of the aristocracy by commercial agents. Our understanding is that if we act out of self-interest, benefits end up accruing to all, for the market works magic. It is an inadequate reading of this moral philosopher, who was concerned with the welfare of all. Believing in sympathy, he also writes about self-command, or self-restraint, setting limits upon ourselves for the common good.
Also the market does not work magic; it is not perfect. It has revealed many failures in recent times, creating painful imbalances. Market measures must be accompanied by government supervision and regulation as required. Above all, it has to be accompanied by responsible citizens. Government action is reconfirmed through citizenship. We vote for the society we want through our action. After all, a market is the result of our participation. We cannot simply blame government and corporations for outcomes. They do not operate in a vacuum. We have also played a part. We have helped create market outcomes. It is time for us now to create the common good.
How can we bring about the common good? Jacques Maritain, the Catholic philosopher, writes that the common good is not simply a collection of private goods. It is the good human life, the communion in good living. Assisted by nature´s gift, society provides human beings with the conditions for existence and personal development. It provides material goods, but also the means to satisfy emotional and spiritual needs. Society nourishes and is in turn fed by the people who form the community. It is a dynamic social body, with each affecting the whole, and not just the sum of separate individuals. We all contribute to the common good. The action of each individual matters.
Similarly, John Locke writes of society as a living body formed out of separate selves. Locke writes about the role of property and liberty in forming society. As we look upon nature as our property, we can use this analogy in dealing with the environment. Locke justifies property rationally and ethically from the fundamental natural law of self-preservation, but he sees property also as foundation for a social contract to guard against “trespass against the whole Species”. He sees property as giving continuity to a political society, joining generation to generation. For him, property acquisition cannot be unlimited, as it is “confined originally to what a man or his family could consume or use, and must not be wasted”. Trust and contract are two pillars guaranteeing property and freedom within civil society. There must be symmetry, with each possessing virtue that is other regarding. With this comes justice.
His view is similar to Aristotle’s idea of an economic boundary and his ideal of proportionality, a precondition for justice. In his “Treatise on Government”, The Politics, Aristotle begins with the declaration: “We see that every city is a society, and every society is established for some good purpose.” He continues: a “society of many families [is] instituted for their lasting mutual advantage”. Within the economy, the family must manage properly what it needs. He differentiates between needs and wants, seen as superfluous and potentially harmful in excess. His primary goal is harmony, a precondition for happiness. Harmony is made possible by the smooth functioning of the economy, thereby ensuring the common good.
Thus, we see four great thinkers throughout the ages acknowledging our material needs, but highlighting the importance of responsibility, proportionality (lack of excess), and the common good. As we prepare for the next phase in our collaborative work to stem global warming and restore nature, let us bear in mind that we must use the resources that nature affords us well, that this is a responsibility imposed on us all and required for the common good.
Pope Francis calls for an ecological conversion, to replace our abuse of the environment with love; for a cultural transformation in order to address our crisis. We cannot love nature, if we continue on a path of waste and destruction. We cannot love our neighbours if we harm them. St. Augustine teaches that we love God by loving our neighbour. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that purchasing is a moral act, and encourages a more sober lifestyle. Taming our desires is not sacrifice, but a manifestation of love. We must leave behind an excessive accumulation of goods, of pleasures, to adopt a balanced lifestyle, to live in harmony with creation. Jesus teaches that the way of Life is the way of Love, and this is the way to harmony and peace, the preconditions for happiness, the desire which is above any other desire.
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Editor’s Note :
Dear Reader, thank you for reading this weekly edition of SMITTEN BY FAITH.
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PAID Subscribers will also receive the digital copy of the recent book by Joan Foo Mahony, ‘LATE HAVE I LOVED THEE’ ( see the bitly link available only to Paid Subscribers ) and at the end of 2021, you will receive via Bitly link, VOLUME ONE 2021 of Smitten By Faith, a DIGITAL COMPILATION of each year’s articles. Paid Subscribers will also receive additional exclusive material from time to time.